1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print system consisting of a client apparatus, a printer server apparatus and a printer apparatus which are mutually connected through, for example, a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A print system consists of a client apparatus such as a personal computer, a printer server apparatus and a printer apparatus. These constituent apparatuses are mutually connected through a network. In the print system of this type, the client apparatus boots, for example, a drawing software, a photo retouch software, or a word processor software, generates print data corresponding to a document or an image and outputs the resultant print data to the printer server apparatus. The printer server apparatus receives the print data output from the client apparatus and appropriately outputs the received print data to the printer apparatus depending on the processing state of the printer apparatus. The printer apparatus receives the print data output from the printer server apparatus, converts (or expands) and then prints out the received print data. If the print data is, for example, page description language data described in page description language, the printer apparatus converts the page description language data to bit-map data or the like and prints out the bit-map data.
Printing property is set to the printer apparatus. The printer apparatus converts print data according to its print property and prints it out. The print property is determined by print property information. The print property information involves, for example, applicable sizes of print paper, applicable fonts, applicable ink types, the number or range of applicable colors and property on conversion of page description languages.
These pieces of print property information are used by not only the printer apparatus itself but also the client apparatus. If, for example, the client apparatus generates print data or print data is output from the client apparatus to either the printer server apparatus or the printer apparatus, the print property information is used by a printer driver installed to the client apparatus or the application software such as the drawing software as stated above. This is because generating print data requires information on a print paper size, a font type and/or the number of ink colors.
For that reason, the print property information on the printer apparatus is stored in the printer apparatus and also supplied to the client apparatus. Specifically, the print property information is described in a printer description file and stored in a predetermined storing area in the client apparatus. In case of a printer apparatus which prints out print data described in, for example, PostScript language (where PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated), the print property on the printer apparatus is described in a printer description file referred to as xe2x80x9cPPD (PostScript Printer Description) filexe2x80x9d and supplied to the client apparatus.
The print property used herein is an element specific to a printer apparatus. Owing to this, the print property information is normally preset in the printer apparatus and not supposed to be frequently changed. For instance, in a conventional printer apparatus, applicable print paper sizes have much to do with the hardware configuration of the printer apparatus and cannot be normally changed. Likewise, applicable fonts, ink types, the number of applicable colors and the like cannot be normally change unless part of the printer apparatus hardware is changed. Accordingly, no demand has arisen for updating the content of the printer description file.
Nevertheless, if consideration is given to environments where diversified print types are needed, it is necessary to enhance flexibility of a print system. It is also necessary to improve printing accuracy for every printed output. To meet such demand, it is of increasing necessity to change the print property of the printer apparatus according to various purposes and subjects for printing.
When the print property of the printer apparatus is changed, it is required to change the content of the printer description file stored in a predetermined storing area in the client apparatus. As stated above, however, demand for updating the printer description file have hardly risen in conventional print systems, so that no means have been proposed for automatically rewriting the content of the printer description file as the print property of the printer apparatus is changed.
In the conventional print system, a user is able to manually rewrite a printer description file stored in a predetermined storing area in a client apparatus. This is, however, laborious and less efficient.
Meanwhile, if there is provided means for communicating information between the client apparatus and the printer apparatus, the client apparatus can be notified of the change of the print property of the printer apparatus and allows the printer description file to be automatically changed. There are, however, cases where a spooler (or spooling device) is connected between a client apparatus and a printer apparatus, considering that the rate at which print data is output from the client apparatus to the printer apparatus is higher than that at which the printer apparatus performs print processing. In those cases, the spooler existing in the middle of a communication path from the client apparatus to the printer apparatus makes it difficult to communicate information between the client apparatus and the printer apparatus. Due to this, it is difficult to automatically change the printer description file.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a print system capable of easily, automatically changing a print description file and enhancing efficiency in print operation.
The object can be achieved by a print system in accordance with the present invention. The print system has: a client apparatus for outputting print data; a printer server apparatus for receiving the print data from the client apparatus, and controlling an output of the print data received from the client apparatus; and a printer apparatus for receiving the print data from the printer server apparatus, converting the print data received from the printer server apparatus and printing the converted print data. The printer apparatus has a print property, and converts and prints the print data received from the printer server apparatus according to the print property. The printer server apparatus has: a print data receiving device for receiving the print data from the client apparatus; a spooling device for temporarily storing the print data received by the print data receiving device; an output control device for controlling the output of the print data stored in the spooling device, depending on whether or not the printer apparatus is ready to receive the print data; a storage device for storing a printer description file in which information representing the print property of the printer apparatus is described; and an updating device for updating the printer description file when the print property of the printer apparatus is changed.
In printing operation, the client apparatus outputs the print data to the printer server apparatus. In the printer server apparatus, the print data receiving device receives the print data, and then, the spooling device temporarily stores the received print data. Then, the output control device controls the output of the print data stored in the spooling device, depending on whether or not the printer apparatus is ready to receive the print data. Under the control of the output control device, the print data stored in the spooling device is sent to the printer apparatus. Then, the printer apparatus receives the print data, converts it, and prints it out. The printer apparatus has a print property, and performs the converting operation and printing operation according to the print property.
The printer server apparatus has a printer description file in which information representing the print property of the printer apparatus is described. The printer described file is stored in the storage device of the printer server apparatus. The printer server apparatus further has the updating device for updating the printer description file when the print property of the printer apparatus is changed. Accordingly, the print description file can be easily and automatically updated.
The updating device can recognize a changed printer property of the printer apparatus by communicating with the printer apparatus. To achieve an appropriate communication between the updating device and the printer apparatus, the updating device may has: a determining device for determining whether or not the print property of the printer apparatus is changed; a requesting device for outputting, to the printer apparatus, a request command to request the information representing the print property of the printer apparatus, when the determining device determines that the print property of the printer apparatus is changed; an information receiving device for receiving the information representing the print property of the printer apparatus from the printer apparatus, when the printer apparatus outputs the information representing the print property thereof in response to the request command; and a describing device for describing the received information of the print property of the printer apparatus into the printer description file.
Furthermore, the storage device may include a shared area which can be accessed by the client apparatus. In this case, the printer description file is stored in the shared area as a shared file. Therefore, the client apparatus can fetch the printer description file from the shared area of the storage device in the printer server apparatus. Accordingly, the printer description file stored in the client apparatus can be easily updated.
The above-mentioned object can be also achieved by another print system of the present invention. The print system has: a client apparatus for outputting print data; a printer server apparatus for receiving the print data from the client apparatus, converting the print data received from the client apparatus, and outputting the converted print data; and a printer apparatus for receiving the print data from the printer server apparatus, and printing the print data received from the printer server apparatus. The client apparatus has: a print data output device for outputting the print data to the printer server apparatus; and a property file output device for outputting, to the printer server apparatus, a property file in which property data to set a print property of the printer server apparatus and the printer apparatus is described. The printer server apparatus has: a print data receiving device for receiving the print data from the client apparatus; a spooling device for temporarily storing the print data received by the print data receiving device; a first storage device for receiving the property file from the client apparatus and storing the received property file therein; a second storage device for storing a printer description file in which designation information to designate the property file stored in the first storage device is described; a determining device for determining whether or not the property file is received by and added into the first storage device; and an updating device for updating the printer description file by adding the designation information to designate the added property file, when the determining device determines that the property file is received by and added into the first storage device.
In printing operation, the print data output device of the client apparatus outputs the print data to the printer server apparatus. In the printer server apparatus, the print data receiving device receives the print data, and the spooling device temporarily stores it. The print data is then converted in the printer server apparatus, and then sent from the printer server apparatus to the printer apparatus. Then, the print data is printed out by the printer apparatus.
The printer server apparatus has a property file in which property data to set a print property of the printer server apparatus and the printer apparatus is described. The property file is stored in the first storage device of the printer server apparatus. The printer server apparatus and the printer apparatus perform the conversion operation and printing operation according to the print property set by the property data described in the property file.
The printer server apparatus also has a print description file. Designation information to designate the property file stored in the first storage device is described in the print description file. The designation information is used for the client apparatus. For example, if several property files are stored in the first storage device, designation information to designate the respective several property files is described in the print description file. By referring the designation information described in the print description file, the client apparatus can select a desirable or necessary property file from among the several property files. The property file selected by the client apparatus is used for the conversion operation and printing operation in the printer server apparatus and the printer apparatus. Thus, the print property of the printer server apparatus and printer apparatus can be easily changed.
The property file can be added. Therefore, a new print property can be added to the printer server apparatus and printer apparatus. When a new property file is added, the property file output device outputs the property file to the printer server apparatus. Then, in the printer server apparatus, the first storage device receives the property file, and added it therein. The determining device of the printer server apparatus determines whether the property file is received and added into the first storage device. When the determining device determines so, the updating device updates the printer description file stored in the second storage device by adding the designation information to designate the new property file. Thus, the print description file can be easily and automatically updated, when the property file is supplied from the client apparatus to the printer server apparatus. Consequently, if the user only sends the new property file to the printer server apparatus by using the client apparatus, the print property can be easily added and the printer description file can be automatically updated.
Furthermore, if color edit data to be used for converting the print data in the printer server apparatus is described in the property file, a color property for the conversion process in the printer server apparatus can be easily added and the printer description file can be automatically updated.
Moreover, if font data for print characters is described in the property file, a new font can be easily added and the printer description file can be automatically updated.
Moreover, the first storage device of the printer server apparatus may include a shared area which can be accessed by the client apparatus, and the property file may be stored in the shared area. Therefore, the property file can be easily added by the client apparatus.